My clearance work involves dealing with the industry regulators, submitting ASA complaints, responding to investigations and lodging appeals. I also draft and negotiate commercial agreements and contracts on behalf of advertisers and agencies, such as client/agency contracts, performer agreements and sponsorship contracts.

I am a frequent writer and commentator on issues affecting my clients, both agencies and advertisers, with numerous published articles in Campaign, The Guardian, Admap and the Marketing Society’s website, e-nuggets. On the more legal side, I am a contributor to Butterworths Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents, as well as the Webvertising chapter of Sweet & Maxwell’s Encyclopedia of E-Commerce. I am also a frequent speaker at industry conferences and regularly talk about legal issues affecting advertising on the internet, direct marketing, sales promotion and intellectual property rights.

I advised Heinz on their ‘Win-a-House’ promotion, including issues such as the terms and conditions for the promotion, the arrangements for over-redemption insurance, and the contracts with the property developers partnering with Heinz to supply the houses. I advised Gillette in relation to the investigation by the Advertising Standards Authority into complaints about their adverting submitted by Wilkinson Sword, as well as the complaints by Gillette against Wilkinson Sword. I also advised on a parallel investigation into the same issues by Ofcom. I advised the advertising agency WCRS and its client The Number, better known as 118 118, in responding to allegations by the former athlete David Bedford, that the runners featured in their campaign infringed his privacy rights. In 2005, I worked with Sainsbury’s and its advertising agency, Abbott Mead Vickers, to re-draft and re-negotiate the performance agreement with celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver. This is one of the largest deals of its kind, and was particularly interesting following the huge success of Jamie’s “School Dinners” and his campaign to raise catering standards in schools. Since 1998, I have been working with the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA), the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) and the Chartered Institute of Purchase and Supply (CIPS) to draft and negotiated the suggested terms for client / agency contracts, with the third edition being published in 2005. We have also worked with Public Relations Consultants Association to create a version for the PR industry, and with the Sales Promotion Consultants Association to create one for below-the-line marketing campaigns.

I advise many of the top UK advertising agencies, including AMV, DDB, Publicis, McCann Erickson, Wieden & Kennedy, DLKW, WCRS, Euro RSCG, Mother and TBWA. On the client side, I advise Gateway, Estee Lauder, Gillette, E.On (formerly Powergen), Jimmy Choo, Jane Packer Flowers, John Frieda, SAGA, Shell, and The Daily Telegraph.

LLB (Bristol University), LLM (Intellectual Property) (King’s College, London). Before joining Lewis Silkin, I was in-house counsel for BT, working in the legal department, but co-located with the marketing team.

I live in North London with my wife and two children. I used to beat the London traffic on my moped each day, until a recent irreconcilable difference of opinion with a London taxi. The taxi won. I am currently rediscovering the joys of the London Underground.